GIVING first-aid kits to the public and all police response units could help save the lives of stabbing victims, campaigners said yesterday

Bleed-control kits, which include tourniquets, bandages and gels, could prevent people from bleeding to death while paramedics race to the scene. This early intervention is crucial as victims with catastrophic injuries can die within three minutes, a nurse warned. Policing minister Nick Hurd has written to police and crime commissioners and organisations involved in the night-time economy, asking how these packs can be rolled out more widely.

Doctors have warned that increasing numbers of people are being rushed to hospital with severe stabbing wounds, a trend described by one police chief as increasingly “feral”.

The intervention comes as police are battling against a knife-crime epidemic, with more than 250 fatal stabbings in the UK this year.

Danny O’Brien, of Anti-Knife UK, said: “These bleed-control kits should be available in every business first-aid kit, especially in areas where there are known to be incidents.

“They could stop someone bleeding to death.

There were more than 250 fatal stabbings in the UK this year (Image: Paul Bradbury/ Getty Images)

“If the Government can find the funding, it would make a big difference. It is like a defibrillator. If someone is having a heart attack and you know there is one nearby, you can go and get it.

“It would also make a difference if every police patrol had them. They are the first on the scene.”

In a written parliamentary question, Labour MP Jess Phillips asked if the Home Office supported all police response units carrying bleed-control kits.

And Mr Hurd said he has written to organisations asking them to “consider how these might be made more freely available in public places”.

Nick Hurd… in favour of the kits, which can stop bleeding after knife attacks (Image: Andrew Matthews/ PA Archive/PA Images)

Nurse Emma Hammett, CEO of First Aid for Life, said applying immediate pressure and attempting to stop the blood from flowing from an open wound are the most crucial interventions in the seconds after someone has been stabbed.

She said: “You can bleed out within three minutes.

“If there is a catastrophic bleed – for example, if an artery has been hit and there is bright red blood squirting out of the wound – you need to stop the bleeding. Direct pressure alone won’t stop it.